Two teen thugs who violently stabbed an Uber driver during a ‘wicked’ armed robbery lied about what happened, even joking, and play-acting their heinous act.
Tye Wayne Porter, 20, and a teenager, now 19, both sat stony-faced and silent on Friday as they learned their fates over the death of Queensland rideshare driver Scott Cabrie back in 2023.
Mr Cabrie, 47, had picked the pair up on a job before he was stabbed to death when the pair stole his car and robbed him.
During his judgment, Brisbane Supreme Court Justice Peter Davis ordered the teenager be released after serving 60 per cent of his 15 year sentence.
The court was told Porter will be released in 2029 after serving 50 per cent of his 9.5 year head sentence.
Mr Cabrie, a rideshare driver in Queensland’s Fraser Coast region, was last seen leaving his Toogoom home on February 6, 2023. His friends sounded the alarm after he was not heard from for days.
Cabrie was found dead near a boat ramp on Power House Rd, Howard, on Queensland ‘s Fraser Coast days later.
Family members of the slain driver packed the courtroom and were heard expressing disbelief at Porter’s outcome.
That anger continued outside where Mr Cabrie’s brother Ian and his best friend Cameron Thomas expressed their frustration at the outcome.
‘It’s an absolute joke. Cold-blooded murder, and these guys get out in under 10 years,’ Mr Thomas said.
Earlier this year Porter pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter, armed robbery in company, and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
The teenager – who cannot be identified under Queensland law – pleaded guilty to murder, armed robbery in company with violence, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and arson.
Brisbane Supreme Court was told Porter, then 18, and the then-17-year-old teen had spent the night drinking before ordering an Uber to take them to a Pacific Haven address.
During the night, the pair had discussed whether they wanted to steal a car.
Mr Cabrie, in his Nissan X Trail, answered the request and drove them to the home.
After they arrived, Porter and the teen went inside and armed themselves with a kitchen knife and meat cleaver before heading back out to the waiting Uber.
Mr Cabrie was assaulted and forced into the luggage compartment of his Nissan X Trail.
The court was told the pair then drove the car to a nearby boat ramp and released Mr Cabrie.
The teen stabbed Mr Cabrie as he attempted to escape, falling over in the process.
‘Porter then told (the teen) to ‘come over here and sort him (Mr Cabrie) out’ while Porter tried to start the car,’ Justice Davis said.
The court was told the teen then stabbed Mr Cabrie again before the pair left, driving the car to Pacific Haven and torching it.
In the following days, the pair lied to others about what had happened and were seen joking about ‘stabbing someone’.
‘(Another) person saw you play-acting, stabbing each other,’ Justice Davis said.
When sentencing the teen, Justice Davis found the murder offence to be ‘particularly heinous’ due to the circumstances.
The court was told the teen had lied about Mr Cabrie attacking him with an emergency hammer when he was released from the vehicle.
‘Mr Cabrie was no threat to you, but you just could not let him go,’ Justice Davis said.
‘Your plan was to steal his car – that was bad enough.
‘Instead you viciously attacked him with a knife and when he ran away and fell to the ground, you later attacked him again.
‘The plan was a wicked one – to take advantage of a man … where he was obliged to trust complete strangers who might get in his vehicle.’
Justice Davis accepted the teenager did not intend to kill Mr Cabrie, but found he intended to do grievous bodily harm.
Reading from the teen’s antecedents, he said the child had a difficult upbringing and had been exposed to alcohol and substance abuse from a young age.
The court was told the teen had sought contact with members of outlaw motorcycle gangs.
He had formed an attraction to a ‘criminal lifestyle’ as a result, Justice Davis said.
The court was told Porter had also been using alcohol and drugs from a young age after leaving the family home at the age of 15.
He had only ever held paid employment at a service station, the court was told.
Porter was a heavy user of the drug ice at the time Mr Cabrie was killed and reported having no recollection of what happened, due to ‘blacking out’.
The teenager received a head sentence of 15 years and was ordered to serve 9 years behind bars.
Porter received a head sentence of 9.5 years, and will be eligible for parole in August 2029.
Outside court, Ian Cabrie told reporters the teen’s sentence was higher than expected but said it was still ‘disappointing’.
‘The most disappointing thing is he’s only going to serve 60 per cent of that,’ he said.
‘Scott was killed for no reason – he was vulnerable because he was driving an Uber.
‘They killed him just out of the joy of it, and that’s so disappointing.’
Mr Thomas called the sentences a ‘joke’.
‘To think we’re happy about today is an absolute load of horses**t,’ he said.
‘The system is broken.
‘Bring back some capital punishment. I’m sick of it.’